Process of making illuminating-gas.



L. L. SUMMERS. PROCESS OF MAKING ILLUMINATING GAS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22, 1911.

1,823,446., Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

PATENT OFFICE.

' LELAND L. SUMMERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS OF MAKING IILUMINATING-GAS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December-22, 1911. Serial No. 667,325.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912,

f To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LELAND L. SUMMERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of Making Illu minating-Gas, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention isto provide '10 !an improved process of enriching and purifying illuminating'gas, and among other features to provide a means for increasing the value of the by-products.

' In a coking process patented by me under date of November 18th, 1910, Patent No.

951,786, I have described a process of producing coke in which process the hydrocarbons distilled from the coal are forced to pass through highly heated carbonaceous 2 material having a temperature suiliciently high to decompose the hydrocarbons.

In the present process I introduce into a body of. carbonaceous material a hydrocarbon, such as tar, benzol, or petroleum, capable of destructive distillation and heat the mixture so formed as in the coking process referred to, causingthe products of this destructive distillation both of the carbonaceous material and of the. hydrocarbons to' pass simultaneously toward the source of heat whereby the products ofthe distillation from the carbonaceous material which are volatilized at the higher temperature are intimately mingled with 'the products from the distillation of the hydrocarbons,

which are volatilized at the lower temperature, as they are disassociated by traveling toward the source of heat thereby causing reactions between the gases to take place.

40 Thus combinations are formed whereby the gas can be purified.

- In a patent issued to me under date of August 23rd, 1910, Patent No. 968,499, I have described a process for eliminating sulfur from carbonaceous material in which I first cause the mode of occurrence of the sulfur in. the carbonaceous material to be changed so that the sulfur may be readily volatilized and then cause the sulfur to be volatilized in a coking oven. In this vola tilizing the sulfur in order to free the coke from impurities, the gas, as distilled from the coal, is chargedwith the volatilized sulfurl and is thus loaded with undesirable im-' purities. I have-discovered that by causing fur and hydrogen are made to react, and that compounds are formed whereby the sulfur can be readily treated in the condensing apparatus and thus remove this impurity from I have further discovered that by the gas. disassociating the hydrogen and carbon from the hydrocarbon and causing this carbon and hydrogen to be-liberated in the presence of the nitrogen evolved from the coal, as the products .are disassociated, reactions take place by which an increased yield of valuable by-products may be obtained, such as ammonia NH cyanids, such as sulfo-cyanid CNS and various other compounds of cyanogen and ammonia.

' In the practice of my invention I preferably use a form of furnace such as shown in my Patent No. 951,786 before referred to, in which the 'carbonaceous'material and the hydrocarbon are caused to pass throu h the retort heated on one side thereo and wherein the products of distillation pass toward the source of heat.

In the drawing I have shown a retort in which my process may be conducted continuously.

. In the apparatus illustrated the retort'is provided with a longitudinally movable floor 20, which is reciprocated by means of hydraulic cylinder and plunger 21, 22, or other suitable means. The carbonaceous material such as fine coal is mixed with from with it by the wall or stripper 24. The re-' 'ciprocation of the conveyor floor, therefore, causes a progressive movement of thematerial through the retort from the hopper 23 at the charging end to the discharge end.

The outward movement of the floor 20 by forcing the material against the wall or stripper 24 and against the superimposed -material in the hopper compacts the charge,

and the material in the hogper and the charging end of the retort e ectually seals Upon the outward move-.

' transmitted through alayer of the material,

the layer situated adjacent to the heating surface is first heated and transmits its heat in turn to thenext adjacent layer. This process of heating results in the gases passing into zones of increasing temperature, the highest temperature being adjacent to the heated surface and the lowest temperature being in that portion of the charge most remote from the heated surface. Owing to this method of transmission of the heat, gases are liberated from the carbonaceous material which is mere remote from the heating surface at a temperature insufficient to decompose themand if these gases are not decomposed previous to being removed from the retort reactions do not take place. By causing the -gases distilled from the materials. at the lower temperature to pass through the material which is adjacent the heating surface and which is consequently at a higher temperature decomposition is readily brought about not only of the gases liberated, from the hydrocarbons but also from the carbonaceous material, and the disassociated products are caused to react whereby the sulfur may unite with the car bon and form a liquid compound such as carbon disulfid, CS the sill-fur, carbon and nitrogen may unite to form sulfo-cyanid CNS, the hydrogen and nitrogen may unite to form ammonia NH,, and various other combinations of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon may be formed. In the particular form of retort shown, the outlet pipe 19 from the oven for removing by-products is located in a position where the by-products will be drawn from the oven near the point of highest temperature, the products being "caused to pass toward the source of heat. It will be ap arent that the by-products may be drawn om the oven at other points if so desired.

In general, the principle distinguishing this rocess from those of the prior art is the simultaneous destructive distillation of oil and coal and causing the products of this distillation to pass immediately into zones of higher temperature in immediate contact with the products distilled at the higher temperature whereby further reactions are caused to take place-thus hydrocarbon compounds distilled at a low'temperature 1n the gas as inert nitrogen.

' immediately pass into zones of higher temperature and are surrounded by hydrocarbon compounds distilled at this higher temperature. The process in general, therefore, consists in distilling compounds at a low temperature and intimately mixing them with compounds distilled at a higher temperature and repeating this process until destructive distillation has been completed. The actions taking place are necessarily of the so called mass action in which a percentage of reverse action is possible, and

hence there is not only a formation of new compounds, but also a restoration of the old compoundsdue to reactions in accordance with the Well known principles of mass action inhighly heated gases. It is, therefore, evident that this process differs materially in chemical action from processes in which the-gases from coal or other carbonaceous material are first distilled and then mixed, or later united with gases from oil which has been distilled. -The simultaneous .distillation in zones of increasing temperaactions not obtained in the ordinary processes. Thus, ammonia NH which is readily distilled from coal at a temperature of 400 to 700 degrees centigrade is almost entirely disassociated at a temperature of 1000 to 1200 degrees centigrade, causing hydrogen to be liberated and a large percentage of inert nitrogen. Part of the hydrogen so disassociated unites'with part of the nitrogen, the remainder of the nitrogen escaping By causing distillation to take place in the presence of carbon and of hydrogen which are in the atomic condition the nitrogen may be caused to combine with the hydrogen and the carbon, and does not, therefore, escape to the same extent as inert nitro en. The ammonia and cyanidobtained l y distillation in this manner are very markedly increased over distillation where the gases of hydrogen and of carbon being produced in the atomic condition are not available. The same tendency to form new compounds exists in connection with all volatile products, 1'. e., hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen, and these are caused to form other complex compounds, accordingly increasing the yield of valuable by-products. At the sametime impurities from the gases forming these combinations may be readily removed in subsequent treatment, In the treatment of illuminating gases, sulfur occurring in able by the washers nor are the washers capable of removing the H S. In the passage of the gases through highly heated carbonaceous material as is done in this process other compounds of sulfur are readily handled in the condensing liquors. In practice the herein described process of distillation of hydrocarbon starts at a temperature of about 300 degrees centigrade, and the distillation will be carried to a temperature of 1000 degrees to 1200 degrees centigrade.

I claim:

1. The herein described process which consists in introducing into a closed retort a 15 mixture of coal and hydrocarbon and then simultaneously distilling the mixture and passing the volatilized products toward the source of heat.

2. The herein described process which consists in mixing coal and oil, introducing the mixture into a closed retort, heating the mixture and causing the products distilled at the lower temperatures to pass to zones of higher temperatures in immediate contact with products distilled from the mixture at the higher temperatures.

3. The herein described process which consists in mixing hydrocarbons which are volatilized at a comparatively high temperature with hydrocarbons which are volatilized at a comparatively low temperature, introducing the mixture into a closed retort, heating the mixture, and causing the products of distillation to pass toward the source of heat.

LELAND L. SUMMERS.

Witnesses:

W. J. RYAN,

M. E. STOUTENBURGH. 

